&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "From China's shadow to Made-in-India toys: Imports fall 71% as Centre targets 25% global share")
India's global toy story is turning a page, and the numbers back it up.
This week, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman confirmed toy exports hit $186 million in fiscal year 2025-26, reaching 153 countries, while imports have fallen 71 per cent between 2019 and 2026. That decline traces directly to a 2020 policy shift.
Back then, basic customs duty on toys was hiked from 20 per cent to 60 per cent to curb dumping of unsafe imports, backed by tighter enforcement at airports and markets. The market-share math, though, is sobering.
India still holds under one per cent of a global toy trade dominated by China, which controls 70-75 per cent of global exports.
That's the gap Sitharaman wants closed faster. She told manufacturers to stop settling for a projected $5 billion domestic market by 2034, and instead target a quarter of the $179 billion global market by 2032.
Also read | From oil markets to dinner plates: How West Asia tensions are making Indian meals costlier
Commerce minister Piyush Goyal is pushing on the supply side, in 2034 and a tenfold jump in exports over four years, pointing to over 50 toy clusters and nearly 21,000 MSMEs now manufacturing toys, many doing contract work for global brands.
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Crucially, domestically made toys, once just 12 per cent of India's own market, now meet almost all demand, with MSMEs shrinking to ₹2,500-3,000 crore, or $263 to $315 million, of an ₹18,000 crore market.
Goyal has also promised modern testing facilities in toy clusters and urged manufacturers to use India's expanding FTA network with the GCC, Mexico, Brazil and Canada to break into developed markets.
The strategy mirrors India's auto-sector playbook: use import barriers to build scale at home, then export outward. But critics note the growth was substantially policy-engineered, and last-mile infrastructure in rural clusters remains untested.
The real test isn't import substitution but whether Indian brands can win shelf space abroad without duty walls doing the heavy lifting.
Watch | India's toy pivot: Import killer, export bet
